Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) commander Ken Brown told those at a community meeting in Broadmeadows this afternoon that it had revised how long it would take to fully put out the blaze.
Ash is falling over Melbourne's CBD as a massive blaze rages at a recycling plant in the city's north.
A large pile of rubbish is burning out of control at the SKM Recycling Centre on Maffra Street, Coolaroo, and strong winds are carrying acrid smoke and ash from the fire more than 20 kilometres south to the CBD.
"The first estimates were that this fire would go for 24 hours," he said.
"Once I've had a good look at this fire it could be up to three days before we extinguish [it]."
Residents have reported ash falling as far as away as Kensington, about 15 kilometres away in Melbourne's inner west.
Police and firefighters have evacuated several businesses south of the blaze and sent the workers home to get them away from the smoke.
The MFB say it will probably take 24 hours to put out the blaze. They plan to deploy a drone above the flames soon to discover exactly what is on fire.
A community warning about the smoke was issued for an area spanning from Coburg, to Campbellfield and Broadmeadows, and some businesses in Maffra St have been closed.
A relief centre has been established at the Broadmeadows Aquatic Centre.
"We put out a community alerts very early for people to shelter in place, close their doors and windows and we're working with the EPA to monitor the downstream effects of the fire with this smoke," Commander Brown said earlier.
Almost 40 fire trucks are fighting the blaze in Maffra Street, the second fire at the site in 24 hours.
Authorities were called to the business on Wednesday night and today’s fire, which started at 8.45am, is not yet under control.
Premier Daniel Andrews would not confirm if concerns had been raised with the government over the facility which has been ablaze at least three times and said he was waiting be briefed further.
“I am aware there is a significant event unfolding out in the north and I will leave it to MFB to comment on that further. I know there has been some warnings issued due to air quality of that nature and that is very much a dynamic event.”
MFB acting deputy chief fire officer Ken Brown said a relief centre for those affected by the fire has also been set up at the Broadmeadows aquatic and leisure centre.
A smoke advice warning has been issued for residents in nearby suburbs.
DEVELOPING: Firefighters are battling a massive fire at a recycling centre in Coolaroo. #7News pic.twitter.com/5xymxVesf8— 7 News Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) July 13, 2017
“We’ll have representatives from the council, Victoria Police, the fire brigade and we’ll have Ambulance Victoria there with paramedics to check people out.
“It’s for the people who have been impacted south of this incident ... there’s been a block of Dallas residential people who have now had their doors and windows closed for about three-and-a-half hours.
“We haven’t considered evacuation, we don’t think it’s necessary at the moment, but we’ll monitor that.”
A public meeting was held at 3pm at the relief centre to keep residents informed.
Fire crews have been able to get closer to the site and will now turn their focus to limiting the amount of smoke that continues to cover suburbs across Melbourne, with ashes reported in the CBD.
MFB acting deputy chief fire officer Ken Brown said the inspection had revealed the blaze was more complex than originally thought.
“It’s a very deep-seated fire,” he said.
“There’s a very large pile that’s burning with plastics and cardboard.
“The only way you’re going to put that out, once you control the smoke, is to pull the piles apart.”
Mr Brown said attention now had to turn to limiting the impact of smoke plumes for residents.
“We’re still trying to put the fire out but our focus is now on the impact on the community,” he said.
“We’re working with the EPA monitoring the atmosphere for what we call particulate — the dust that comes out of the fire — and our scientific officers are sampling the air for carbon dioxide.
“Until we can get that smoke under control we need to really focus on the community impact.”
Authorities are still waiting for the results of air quality tests.
It is the third time the plant has caught fire this year.
COOLAROO FIRE: This is the wind more than 100 firefighters are battling.It's not yet under control: https://t.co/xqIzkmNKa5 pic.twitter.com/C7sQddUdkp— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) July 13, 2017
“We’ve got some exposure with an engineering factory and piles of wood shavings which we’re working very hard to protect and confine the fire to the plastic and paper recycling area here,” he said.
“We’ve had some issues with water ... It’s going to be a protracted incident and we’ve got in excess of 30 trucks here from MFB and CFA and about 130 firefighters
“It will go on for a number of hours until we can contain it first, control it and then extinguish it.”
A smoke warning is out for a swath of suburbs across Melbourne’s north.
Mr Brown said residents should shut off airconditioning and close their windows and doors, where safe, if they could smell smoke.
“It doesn’t matter what’s on — fire all smoke is toxic,” he said.
“The plume of smoke and associated ash is streaming pretty much due southward from Coolaroo ... across to Essendon and down over the city centre and St Kilda area and then over the bay,” duty forecaster Stuart Coombe told 3AW.
“That corridor and suburbs are the ones being primarily affected.”
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